Qatar Biobank study shows reduction in lifestyle diseases

Doha, Qatar: The latest data shared by Qatar Biobank, a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), shows a reduction in the prevalence of lifestyle diseases, re...

Doha, Qatar: The latest data shared by Qatar Biobank, a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), shows a reduction in the prevalence of lifestyle diseases, reflecting Qatar’s efforts to reduce risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases.

Qatar Biobank shared insights from a new study on the prevalence of conditions including lifestyle diseases in the country. It shows reduction in some conditions compared to previous data released by Qatar Biobank. The new cohort study involving 10,000 participants found high prevalence of dyslipidemia (high cholesterol levels) among the participants, followed by diabetes and hypertension.

The study found that 30.1% participants had dyslipidemia, 17.4% had diabetes, 16.8% had hypertension, and 9.1% had asthma. However, the prevalence of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and asthma is less than the data collected by the biobank in 2016 for the cohort.

According to the data, 44% of participants showed high cholesterol, 29% showed high blood pressure, and 16 % had a previous diagnosis of asthma. However, only 15.5% had diabetes.

One of the significant findings of the cohort was that almost 80% of the referred population before attending the clinic had an undiagnosed condition which was identified through the Qatar Biobank medical review office and referred for further investigations and treatment.